Asteroid sharing Earth’s orbit discovered — could it help future space missions?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University Research has shown that the Earth trails an asteroid barely a kilometer across in its orbit about the sun — only the second such body to have ever been … Read more

Spinal Stimulation Helps People with Paralysis Walk, Canoe and Stand at a Bar

For decades doctors and researchers have dabbled with using electrical stimulation of the spinal cord to help restore movement in people with paralysis. The technique, when combined with physical therapy, has even allowed some patients with complete paralysis to walk again. Yet it has not worked for all paralyzed people. And researchers still have had … Read more

White House science adviser Eric Lander under fire for bullying | Science

President Joe Biden’s top science adviser, geneticist Eric Lander, has been reprimanded for bullying and demeaning women on his staff, according to a scathing piece this morning in Politico. A 2-month White House investigation found “credible evidence” that Lander bullied one of his attorneys and disrespected and demeaned members of his 140-person staff in the … Read more

25 Space Conspiracies That Just Won’t Die

Here are some of the wildest perennial space myths that just won’t go die. Credit: NASA/Getty On the internet, you need to be a skeptical reader these days.  Claims of aliens and UFOs, Mars being abnormally big, or the moon turning green are the kinds of things you should check out carefully.  Here are some … Read more

Geology needs to reinvent itself as we fight against climate change

Robbie Goodall/Getty Images “We learn geology the morning after the earthquake,” the 19th-century essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote. The quote has a pithy resonance as we grapple with the fallout of our inaction on so many fronts, from pandemic prevention to climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Applied to geology itself, it is a … Read more

Strange twin asteroids, the youngest ever seen, likely broke apart just 300 years ag

Scientists have spotted two space rocks that may be Earth’s freshest asteroid neighbors. The strange pair of near-Earth asteroids is separated by about 600,000 miles (1 million kilometers), and researchers calculated that they likely broke off the same asteroid just a few centuries ago. “It’s very exciting to find such a young asteroid pair that … Read more

Protect your plants from cold snaps with home-made cloches

By Clare Wilson GAP Photos/Anna Omiotek-Tott IN MY garden, bulbs such as snowdrops are coming up. Every year, I wonder if spring is arriving earlier due to climate change. One study from 2006 found that many signs of spring, such as plant species unfurling their leaves, had been hastened by 7.5 days across Europe in … Read more

The Tongan Volcano Is a Reminder of Island Nations’ Vulnerabilities

On January 15 the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted in the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga, generating ashfall and a tsunami that affected 84 percent of the country’s population. A few days later, amid heat and humidity, scores of people all over Tonga came out to clean up debris and ash, even sweeping airport runways … Read more

Dog waste may harm nature reserve biodiversity by fertilising the soil

Dogs’ urine and faeces bring large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus into suburban nature reserves, which could be harmful to plant biodiversity Life 7 February 2022 By Chen Ly A dog in a wildflower patch at St Abbs Head Nature Reserve, UK Rebecca Cole / Alamy Stock Photo Taking your dog for a walk in … Read more

Covid-19 news: Chinese study predicts impact of ending zero covid

By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu, Layal Liverpool, Carissa Wong and Alex Wilkins People register to undergo PCR testing in Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong, China, 5 February, 2022 Marc Fernandes/NurPhoto/Shutt​erstock Latest coronavirus news as of 12pm on 7 February Even with … Read more